


Syndrome of Nightmares and Love

by like



Series: Gifts for friends nya [5]
Category: South Park
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Chatting & Messaging, Light Angst, M/M, Nightmares, Online Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 16:23:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15489903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/like/pseuds/like
Summary: The Soulmate syndrome sucked ass, big time.It wasn’t very common, but common enough for people to know about it.There was no cure, since it wasn’t really a disease, but also because no one could really figure out how to do it.The symptoms? Nightmares. Bad ones.Stan is just so, so tired.





	Syndrome of Nightmares and Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bryellii](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bryellii/gifts).



> i started writing this a few weeks ago and finally managed to finish it!! :'D  
> this is a gift for my wonderful boyfriend aleks!!! kind of based of how we always say we're a part of a fanfic, hehe. guess what, binch. we officially are now owo <3

Honestly, at this point, Stan was mostly tired.

He was having nightmares. Again. Just like he did every night. Just like all people stuck with the Soulmate syndrome had. 

The Soulmate syndrome sucked ass, big time. It wasn’t very common, but common enough for people to know about it. Around 1% of society in relatively developed countries had it. No one knew what started it, only that it started appearing around the 1950’s and most of its first sightings were in America. There was no cure, since it wasn’t really a disease, but also because no one could really figure out how to do it. The only solution for the negative parts of it was to touch your soulmate’s bare skin with your bare skin for the first time. It’s not as if scientists could extract soulmate juice from someone and inject it to anyone with the Soulmate syndrome, mostly because each person had a different soulmate, and soulmate juice wasn’t a real thing, and yeah, this won’t work. 

The symptoms? Nightmares. Bad ones. Sometimes they were just monsters chasing you, sometimes your loved ones dying, sometimes just you falling forever into darkness. The one thing in common for all dreams was that they were all negative, scary, horrible, and hard to sleep with. 

According to certain articles Stan read throughout the years, after you meet your soulmate not only do the nightmares stop - you start dreaming  _ with _ your soulmate. Even when not sleeping at the same time, you just have the same dreams where you can see each other in - whoever sleeps first sees the dream first from their position and then when their soulmate falls asleep they see the same dream from their position. That surely sounds nifty.

Thanks to these shitty nightmares this shitty syndrome gave him, Stan barely managed to get sleep lately. He usually woke up around 4 AM, sometimes gasping, sometimes shaking, sometimes crying, sometimes all three. He mostly spent the rest of the night browsing the internet on his phone till he was tired enough to doze off again, usually to be woken up by his alarm less than an hour later. 

His days mostly proceeded with coffee and some daytime naps when he didn’t have classes or work. He was always feeling at least slightly tired though, and this was fairly upsetting considering he had stuff to do and things he wanted to see or be excited over which was hard to do when you’re this tired. 

There was one thing he still managed to be mostly excited about, and this was an internet friend he met in some weird gamers forum. His name was Clyde. Clyde made a joke theory about some game, and most people got angry - probably because they took it seriously, god knows why - but Stan decided to play along with it and add his own ideas to the “theory”, which then caused Clyde to send him a private message thanking him for it, and they started talking, then became pretty good friends. He didn’t know much about Clyde. His profile on that forum site only said what his first name and age were and that he lived in the same state as Stan. After talking for a bit he found out stuff like his birthday, that he had 2 pet rats, he was really into cartoons and was more passionate than the average person about memes, which was a quality Stan could appreciate in a friend. Talking to him was nice, a weird escape from his tiring reality. He also had a suspicion that Clyde also suffered from the Soulmate syndrome, since he mentioned nightmares or sleeping problems a few times, but he didn’t want to jump to conclusions and frankly was too anxious to actually ask. He didn’t know what Clyde looked like, and he wanted to find out, but he was too anxious to ask Clyde for any other social media, and this forum site wouldn’t let them send pictures, which sucked big ass. 

Most of the time, Stan was able to pull through with shit life threw at him. Sometimes when things got rough he started thinking of the day he’d finally get to meet his soulmate, and how his dream will be way more pleasant when that happens, and how he’ll have someone to love who will love him back and how everything will finally be alright. He didn’t have a face to fit his fantasies yet, but it didn’t matter much; it was the general energy of those fantasies that got him through. 

Today was kind of a rough day. They had lots of patients coming through, and while he did mostly work with smaller animals, it still made him sad to see all the other sick or wounded pets he either worked with or saw in the waiting room. One patient had a sick dog with her that had the saddest look on his face and it just broke Stan’s heart. One dude brought it his rat who apparently had a tumor and the  _ dude’s _ face broke Stan’s heart, he looked so upset over it (and he had every reason to). One man brought in his cat which had a broken leg, and while they were both kind of calm, Stan’s heart was still broken just like this cat’s leg, because oh no poor cat. It never got any easier. 

He was a little relieved when the day ended and he got to go home and take a shower. He was planning on maybe talking to some people (Clyde) online before going to sleep, thinking maybe keeping his mind busy will distract it from the nightmares, but he was just too tired. As soon as he changed into his pajamas he just slammed his face in the pillow and fell asleep.

His dream was odd. It started in a room full of light, which was already weird enough considering his nightmares were usually dark. It became weirder when he realized the light is a natural one - he thought maybe he had a operating table nightmare like he heard some people have - but the light was soft and welcoming, and not bright and hurting like any medicine related room will have.

He was seated on something soft and quite comfortable, and he was not alone. Someone was sitting next to him. He couldn’t see their face, but he felt gentle warmth radiating from them. He saw a halo of short brown hair surrounding the face he couldn’t really recognize. He couldn’t- he couldn’t see the face, but… he could feel them smiling. He somehow knew they were smiling. He decided to smile back. 

The person with him leaned forward and gave him a light kiss on the forehead, and he had no idea your dream self can blush until that moment. The person then grabbed his hand and tangled their fingers together, and Stan squeezed their hand in return.

The entire feeling of this dream was so nice, it was already scary enough. Stan was feeling a little on edge, waiting for something bad to happen, for the person to combust or for the room to catch on fire, but it never happened. 

This was the first morning Stan woke up by his alarm alone, not covered by any cold sweat, not shaking, not crying. He had a lingering confusion in him, but then it dawned on him. He had met his soulmate. He touched his soulmate, and it happened yesterday.

And he had no idea who that is.

 

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

 

Clyde was having a really bad week. 

It was the 12th year anniversary of his mom’s death this Monday, which was already sad enough, but then his best friend went through a bad break up, so they decided to get really drunk together and the day after Clyde has the worst hangover, and then still overwhelmed by this shitty hangover he noticed one of his rats has a weird bump on her stomach, so he had to take her to the vet the day after which was always unpleasant (being surrounded by sick or wounded animals is not the most ideal way for Clyde to spend his time), and he barely got any work done this week so he was a little tight with money which meant he had to do a stream really late tonight just to get enough to pay rent the next week, and it was already 6AM when he was done and clean and ready for bed. 

He checked his phone for any messages on any social media, mostly because usually some of his internet friends were up at those times - Stan specifically, he usually sent a “fuck i just had another nightmare” message around 5AM - but there was nothing. 

Clyde yawned and tried to figure out his plans for the rest of the night. He’d rather not go to sleep right away, since he knew he’d get even worse nightmares when his brain isn’t 100% exhausted, so it might be better to just busy his brain till he passes out. Yeah. That sounds like a plan.

One hour and too many mind numbing phone games later, Clyde could feel his eyelids getting a bit heavier and his mind getting a bit cloudier. His eyes did shoot open though, when he noticed a new message from Stan.

_ dude i just had the weirdest dream _

Clyde no longer felt tired. He clicked the message and immediately typed a response.

**another nightmare?**

A minute later, Stan replied.

_ no that’s the thing _

_ it was… good _

_ this is the reason it was weird _

**o shit man that’s great :o**

_ yeah man i think i met my soulmate?? _

**soulmate?**

_ yeah  _

_ have you heard of the soulmate syndrome? _

Clyde froze, hesitating on whether he should disclose he has it too or not.

**i’m familiar with it**

_ yeah so. i have it. and well, after you meet your soulmate, your nightmares stop, right? _

**aren’t you supposed to dream with your soulmate too then?**

_ yeah!! and i also had another person with me in my dream!!! _

**oh sweet dude!!!! what did they look like???**

_ i don’t know :( _

_ my brain is such a bitch _

_ i couldn’t really see their face _

_ they have short brown hair though i think _

Clyde giggled at that. His first thought was “oh maybe it’s me”, but he quickly brushed it off. Better to not get his hopes up. It was still nice to toy with the thought though.

**lmao very specific**

_ shut up it’s not like i can tell more than that _

**it’s all good man**

**do you have any idea on who could it be?**

_ not really :/ _

_ i saw so many patients today and tbh it could be any of them… i haven’t really memorized what any of them look like anyway _

**oh shit man that sucks :/**

**maybe the more you dream the more you see of them?**

_ yeah that makes sense. i think i read smth about that before too _

**well then, guess you just gotta sleep more, huh**

_ haha yeah!!  _

_ tho tbh even if i do see their face i have no idea what their name is or how to find them _

**well, now you know they probably don’t live that far from you, since they went to your clinic :thinking:**

**so maybe they won’t be that hard to find**

_ haha i sure hope so at least _

_ btw what are you doing up this early? _

**haven’t slept yet**

_ WHAT _

_ GO TO SLEEP _

**but……**

_ SLEEP _

**:(**

**ok**

**good night bro**

_ night man!!!! _

Clyde closed the app and turned his phone off. Now that he was thinking about it, he really was pretty tired. His body felt so so heavy and his eyes were practically forced open for this conversation, so shutting them felt really welcoming. 

He soon fell asleep with his mind full of Stan.

His dream that night felt… off.

The light was too gentle, not right in his face and not bright like it sometimes was. Everything was generally soft. He noticed he wasn’t lying on a hard metal bed like he did in some of his dreams, and that he wasn’t tied up in any way.

Looking around, he also realized he wasn’t alone. A person was sitting next to him. They gave a feeling of gentle coolness, a refreshing type of cold like drinking cold water when it’s warm. He realized this might be it, this might be a good dream, and gave his widest smile. Not being able to make out their face - only a pair of blue eyes looking at him in awe and confusion - he still somehow felt them smile back. 

This smile filled his heart with butterflies. He felt himself itching to drink more of this coolness as he grabbed their face and kissed their forehead, the best way he knew to show affection. He smiled again, letting go of their face and grabbing their hand instead. It was warmer than he expected, but still nice. The hand squeezed him back. 

He felt the butterflies spread from his stomach to all over his body. This really was it. Finally.

Waking up still smiling, finally managing to sleep more than 5 hours in a row for the first time in years, Clyde opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He felt warm, but in a really good way. He didn’t need to kick the blanket off from himself to stop feeling suffocated like he usually did. He just felt like cuddling even deeper in bed and falling asleep again so he could keep dreaming with this cool person and those amazing blue eyes.

 

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

 

**dude**

**guess what**

Stan opened his phone on his break to see a message from Clyde. It was sent a little over two hours ago, and Stan felt a little guilty for not replying before, but he still tried to type a reply.

_ what?? :o _

**i think i met my soulmate too :D**

_ no way!!!!  _

**yeah!!!!! i had a really nice dream and it had another person lol**

_ fuck man that’s awesome!!!  _

_ did you see them?? _

**mmmmmno just their eyes**

**blue**

**pretty**

_ hmm interesting.  _

_ any leads to who it is? _

**not really :o i don’t remember touching anyone yesterday**

**except maybe uh**

**i was at the vet yesterday for my rat**

**i think maybe my fingers brushed this intern?? he handed me smth i need to take care of my rat yknow**

**i think he did have blue eyes too but tbh he was looking down a lot so i can’t be sure**

Stan really wanted to believe that by strange coincidence Clyde went exactly to the clinic he worked at, and brought his rat there, and that Stan got to help with it, but it seemed a little far-fetched. It  _ was _ a little odd they both had a nice dream the same night, but… that’s too big of a coincidence, right?

_ what happened to your rat? _

**lmao i talk about soulmate shit and there you are asking me about zelda smh**

**she had a tumor i think, that’s what the vet said :(**

_ does she happen to be generally white with some brown spots? _

**yeah…? i think i told you before tbh**

_ did the intern you mentioned have black hair? _

**uh**

**yeah**

**dude are you okay you’re being freakishly accurate**

Holy shit.

_ holy shit _

**??????**

_ dude _

**yeah?**

_ i think we’re soulmates??? _

**lmao wtf**

_ i think i’m the intern you mentioned?? _

**uh**

**what**

_ a white with brown spots rat came in yesterday _

_ she had a tumor _

_ now that you mention it, i think my hand did brush her owner’s when i handed him something _

_ and the more i think about it, i think he had short brown hair too, so maybe he is my soulmate?? _

**yeah but**

**who says it was me**

**like just because i fit this description and this thing happened to me yesterday and also i apparently met my soulmate yesterday doesn’t mean it’s you**

**wait**

_ i told you man!!! _

**SHIT DUDE WE’RE SOULMATES?**

_ YEAH PROBABLY _

**YEET**

_ YEAH _

**DUDE THAT’S FUCKIN LIT?**

_ IKR _

_ DUDE WE SHOULD _

_ UM _

_ TALK ON MORE SOCIAL MEDIA _

**SCREW SOCIAL MEDIA**

**I WANNA MEET YOU?**

_ OH UH _

_ OKAY _

**GIVE ME A TIME AND ADDRESS BITCH**

**LET’S DO IT**

_ HOW ABOUT 7PM TODAY IN THE COFFEE PLACE DOWN THE STREET FROM THE CLINIC _

**IT’S A DATE**

**FUCK YEAH**

_ WE’RE DOING THIS BRO _

**WE’RE MAKING IT HAPPEN**

Stan was giggling to himself all through his break, then couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of his shift. He was going to meet Clyde (again), for real. He was going to meet his soulmate.

 

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

 

Clyde was bouncing his leg like crazy. How was he supposed to pass the next… 5 hours? He thought of doing another stream, but now that he knows who his soulmate is it felt weird to do anything… like that, for people who weren’t said soulmate. He tried cooking something, but it barely took up an hour. He called his best friend, telling him about his soulmate, but said best friend just said “dude you really believe that crap?”, which was upsetting but Clyde realized people without the Soulmate syndrome probably won’t be able to understand what it means to live with it, so he brushed it off and kindly told his best friend to “fuck off, cunt”. He tried making cookies, but they got burnt, so he threw them away. He tried playing some games, but his mind was too occupied to really notice what was going on on the screen so he quickly lost all matches he joined. As he was getting out of the game, he chuckled to himself. This was the game that got him to meet Stan in the first place. It was kind of funny, how his dumb joke theory about this game got him to actually talk to his soulmate, and how if it weren’t for it it’d take them a way longer time to even find each other.

He went on his conversation with Stan and started reading backwards, going through all their old messages. He still couldn’t believe it. Stan was his soulmate. No way this was real.

Before he knew it, it was 6:30 and he had to leave to get to the coffee place on time. He threw on the first clothes he could find - which might have been a bad idea, because this was technically his time to leave a first impression, but, Stan will like him either way, right? - and left.

He entered the coffee shop at 7:05, really hoping he got the right place, and that he wasn’t too late and Stan already left, and-

Across the room, he noticed those blue eyes. They were looking at him with anticipation.

Smiling, he stepped forward.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you like this!!!  
> (nice) comments are always appreciated hehe,,  
> find me at styde.tumblr.com


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